海角大神

You鈥檙e probably familiar with classic optical illusions, such as titled 鈥淢y wife and my mother-in-law,鈥� drawn in 1915 by cartoonist W. E. Hill. Depending on how you interpret certain features, the figure appears as either an old woman looking to the side or a young woman looking over her shoulder.

A recent optical illusion created by an MIT research group takes things several steps further, and provides insight into how the human brain processes images.

鈥淢arilyn Einstein,鈥� shown in the video above, appears first as a small, blurry picture of model Marilyn Monroe. But then, as the image zooms in, it appears to transform into a photo of physicist Albert Einstein. Monroe鈥檚 features are blurry and indistinct, while Einstein鈥檚 are finely drawn. Those fine details are only visible at closer distances, so the image appears to change as it zooms in (or as the viewer moves closer to it).

The optical illusion can highlight vision problems 鈥� people who might need glasses are often unable to pick out the fine details of Mr. Einstein鈥檚 face, and are left seeing an image of Ms. Monroe 鈥� but also points out a quirk in how the human brain processes visual information.

The MIT team that created 鈥淢arilyn Einstein鈥� performed a series of experiments in which they showed participants the hybrid image for different lengths of time. When people saw the picture in just a brief flash of 30 milliseconds, they could only see Monroe 鈥� their brains simply didn鈥檛 have time to pick out the fine details of Einstein鈥檚 face, no matter what how close to or far away from the image they were. When they saw the picture for 150 milliseconds, they saw Einstein but not Monroe.

The experiments suggest that our brains prioritize different details within an image or scene. If we see a picture only very briefly, we鈥檙e left with 鈥渓ow spatial resolution鈥� information 鈥� the overall shape of what we saw. If we see that same picture for a slightly longer period of time, we鈥檙e able to pick up on finer details. The MIT team believes our brain processes low spatial resolution information first, before it moves on to details.

This research could be used by companies who want to change the way their advertisements or logos appear at different sizes or distances from potential customers. You might spot a billboard from far away and notice certain colors or features, then see more detailed information as you get closer to it. Manufacturers might also be able to use the research to mask text or other information that must be printed on their devices so that the text is only visible from close up.